After 38 years, Kingston Township seeks to change charter

In 1974, when Kingston Township's home-rule charter was adopted, a loaf of bread was 39 cents, ground beef was 85 cents a pound, gas was 55 cents a gallon and a Volvo four-door luxury sedan was $6,820.

Today, a loaf of bread is $2.49, ground beef is $2.99 a pound, gas is $3.95 a gallon and that Volvo luxury sedan will set you back $45,990.

As times change, prices go up, which is why Kingston Township officials are urging residents to go to the polls on Nov. 6 to help update the home-rule charter for the first time ever. Finances are tight, and by amending outdated provisions of the charter, officials hope to cut down on unnecessary expenses.

"If they don't want to vote for the president, just please go and vote for the referendum," township Manager Kathleen Sebastian said. "These issues are very important to save the township money."

Kingston Township's home-rule charter has never been changed since it was adopted on May 21, 1974.

"It's what the people voted on, and we don't want to mess with it. It's just that from time to time we need to re-evaluate it," Sebastian said.

And, she said, there is "a lot of outdated information in there that we really need to change."

Just as the price of household goods has gone up over the past 38 years, so has the cost of municipal necessities.

In 1974, a police cruiser cost about $3,000 and a snowplow was around $5,800, according to newspapers from that year. Today, police cruisers cost upward of $30,000 and the average plow truck is $145,000, Sebastian said.

That ties in to the first proposed change to the charter, which is to raise the bidding threshold to the current state standard.

The township's threshold is $2,500, meaning anything above that amount has to go through the competitive bidding process which has advertising requirements that are costly and time-consuming, Sebastian said. By contrast, the state's bidding threshold is now $18,500 and will be re-evaluated every year, she said.

Even with the change, there will still be bargain-hunting in the township.

"We want to make it known to the residents, anything we purchase - big items - we always go out for competitive quotes," Sebastian said. "We call three or four different vendors to get the best price."

The second proposed change is another money-saver: provisions in the administrative code would be adopted or amended by resolution instead of ordinance.

Ordinances can cost more than $1,000 in legal and advertising fees and the adoption process takes 90 days.

The third and fourth proposed charter changes are more along the lines of time-savers.

They are for ordinances to take effect within five days of passage instead of 30, and for the township manager to be allowed to execute contracts within a certain amount rather than the supervisor chairman or vice chairman.

And township residents don't have to worry: there's nothing in the referendum about polyester bell-bottoms.

eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072

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